Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1887-06-26
ART MATTERS.
A CHAPTER ON THg SUBJECT OF PHO.
To.cEHoMoGRAPHY
LEGENDS Pertaining 10 the origin Of Pho.
togrsphy in England- ColOred
Portraits Notes.
lLondon Telegraph

arts and sciences, as we'll as history
and theology. have their myths and
traditions equally with their heroes and
martyrs. One OF tho most curious OF
the legends pertaining TO the origins of
photography i'm England is tho shadowy
story that late III the last century two
men Of busin, Sc, a potter and on cngi-
nccr, each famed not only for his en-
terprise and energy but for his invent
ivenoss-thc one named JOSIAH Wedg-
wood, the ether Matthew Boulton--
carried ont NJ the works of the latter at
Soho. near birmingham, series OF
experiments 10y which, through the
agency of the sun, camera OBJ
Scura, and few chemicals, they
were able 10 produce on divers
surfaces Of metal. paper, silk. and
linen. not only exact .f0c-Simiics
Of cugravinCs and insnimate objects,
but portraits Of living individuals. IL
is not at al unlikely that such WAS the
case but the story assumes its legend
sry aspect when it il stated that no
sooner did reports OF the successful
sun-piciurcs taken at Birmingham be
GIN to he hruitcd shout in London than
the President and the members of the
Royal Academy OF Arts made hAsto
psssiOnstely to Cntreat the inquiring
saCcs Of Soho TO suspend the re-
searches in heliogrsphy, since, il
tbo process were perfected and
brought into general use. the art
OF painting in general and that of por-
traitpaiuting in particular would be
inevitably and definitely ruined. What
effect these representations hsd--if
they were ever made at all-is not
known and extremely dense is the
cloud which wells the beginning of sun
drawing in this country. Sir Hum
phrey Davy is believed to have made a
few trials Of the effect produced by the
concentrated rays OF the sun on horn
silver, the tuna cornCd of the old alche-
mists Lord Brougham characteristic
cally stroyc TO cut the Gordisn knot
of the mystery by informing the world
that he himselfwas the inventor of pho.
Biography. Ono thing, however, is Ger
tain in connection with the history of
this delightful and most useful art 1t
is upon record that no sooner had the
discoveries OF Daguerre and OF Niepce
de ST. Victor, aud Fox Tablet in
England, made photography palpa-
bly, practicable process than inquisitive
artists began 10 experiment in the di-
rcctiOn of ELECTROMAGNETIC, or pho
Biography in colors. A precisely analo-
gous ambition was manifested in the
earliest days Of aerostation No sooner
had the Brothers Montgalfier proved
to demonstration the possibility of
sending up balloons than inventive
spirits set Themselves TO work to devise
apparatus for steering the balloons.
The secret of aerial navigation as yet
remains undiscovered, although innu-
merable statements, more or less
doubtful, have been made as
to the practicability of solving
the problem. The case seems,
at last, 10 he otherwise with
photochromoersphy. Repeated at
tcmpts have been made during the
last forty years to produce colored
sun-pictures. They have not been sue
ccssful. hut il has now been publicly
announced that heliogr ply in colors
has at length become an accomplished
fact that q weNknOwn Bond-street
sun.nrtist has succeeded in producing
images in nstural hines, without any aid
from the palette or the pencil, and that
he has been able TO offer for inspection
in his studio several portraits possess
ing the brilliancy of the highly finished
miniatures with which they have been
compared.
" hat. in the face OF this in one sense
alarming statement, will he theattitude
Of sir Frederick Leighton, p. r. A.,
his acadomicians and associates of Sir
James Linton and the two water-color
societies of Mr.. James Whistler and
the British artists? If brilliantly ,
colored and highly-fnished miniatures
can be produced by photography, it is
self-eyident that lite-sized portraits can
be executed 10y the same agency. The
most valuable test, however of the
new discovery will be time. If durable
pictures in natural tints can be evolved
by tie aid Of the camera and the
chemicals, it must be obvious that
very serious blow will be dealt to the
ant Of pOrtrait-painting IN oil
and water cOlors. The princes of the
pencil, indeed, might afford to smile
at the competition of PbDbus Apollo, |
with the resources Of a chemical labO-
Tatory and q clever operator for deyel-
oping the shafts sent from his silver !
low. Already We know, from which |
the pictures at which We peep in 2
camera. how nature paints Her fore !
grounds are very crisp; her finish mi
croscopic Her extreme distances-as |
they have been apparent these many |
wears past to the visitors to the historic |
camera obscure at BrightOn-ar apt to |
ice somewhat vague and "woolly."
Her color is simply and obviously natu
raj, and il cannot be anything else. |
Thus were the well-known Bond-street |
photographer TO develop the colored |
portrait Of n lady or gentleman
IN the present merry month of |
May it might be "a graphic portrait,
and a faithful and an interesting por-
trait. but II would scarcely be pleasing |
one. Chromatically, perhaps, it might
more nearly resemble an arrange
men." in fox, or symphony y in |
Scotch mist, or "nOcturne an what /
Lady Morgan used to call "dun-
duckety-mud color. Now, the ideas of
color and the executive capacity OF such
masters in portraiture as Millais,
Watts, Herkomer, Gregory, John Col
her. and Frank Holl all vary, but they
are all rich and harmonious. Nature,
too, is niece ssarily always harmony, but
she is often extremely, although con-
sistently, dull and monotonous even to
downright ugliness. AS to the posi-
biity Of reproducing in photograph
the colors OF nature that, we should
say, is scarcely open 10 doubt. In
1913 the French Sdr0Rt Becquerel sue
cecded in obtaining on a silver
plate the image Of the seven colOrs OF
the solar spectrum but these hues
vanished under the influence of diff
fused daylight. Niepce managed,
chiefly through the aid Of salts OF
uranium, to obtain Photographic pic
lures respectively IN blue, red, and
green. but these tinted views soon dis
solved. "Will it wash?" asked in her
deepest diapascn the majestic Sarah
Siddons Of the trembling diapers as
l.,,,4f,n,, Gonna col |